


Semper Fidelis

by demon_sloth



Category: Dark-Hunter Series - Sherrilyn Kenyon, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Drabble Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-08-13
Updated: 2013-05-08
Packaged: 2017-11-12 01:14:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 18,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/484986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demon_sloth/pseuds/demon_sloth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Savitar dumps Harry with Ash to be trained.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 2 am

It was two in the morning when Ash was rudely awoken from his sleep by the shrill ringing of his phone. Groaning into his pillow he groped around next to him on the bed where he had thrown his clothes just half an hour previously.

He couldn't find it. Gritting his teeth he raised his head and summoned his phone to him, massaging his temples to try and stave off the headache that he could feel building just behind his eyes.

"What?" He growled into the device.

"I'm coming over."

Ash barely had time to realise that it was Savitar who had called him before two people materialised in his bedroom.

"What?" He asked again then, realising that the phone was rather redundant now, closed it and threw it back into the pile of clothes. "Savitar."

"Acheron!" Savitar said gleefully, causing Ash to repress a shiver at the promise of imminent destruction lurking underneath his tone. He'd spent gods knew how long during training being addressed exactly like that and then being put through hell. From the small shiver the person standing next to Savitar gave, Ash could tell he knew exactly what he had been through, "I'd like you to meet my new disciple – Harry."

The boy looked much like Ash felt right now. Dead on his feet. Black hair hung loose to his shoulders and dull green eyes stared at him half-lidded. He was gently swaying side to side from fatigue.

"Harry this is Ash." Savitar continued, interrupting Ash's concentration on the boy.

"'Lo." The boy murmured, seemingly not even having the energy to raise his hand. If Savitar hadn't changed teaching styles at all in the time that Ash had left then he could sympathise perfectly with him.

"He's going to be your new guardian."

"What?" Ash exclaimed, sitting bolt upright in bed and not caring about the pain that slammed through his head at the action. "No!"

"Yes." Savitar grinned again but this time there was steel behind it. Ash could feel the temperature in the room dropping sharply.

The boy, Harry, just stood there until Savitar nudged him towards the bed. He stumbled forward and crawled up the mattress on hands and knees with his eyes closed until he reached the pillows where he collapsed face down and didn't move.

Ash stared for a moment in disbelief and just a little concern. Was the kid even breathing? He prodded the boy in the head until he got a mumble of annoyance and the kid shifted until he wasn't trying to suffocate himself anymore.

"I haven't slept in three days." Ash growled dangerously as he turned back to his long-time friend, "I don't have the energy to argue with you right now Savitar. Take the boy and leave."

He was speaking to an empty room.

"Savitar!" He shouted, and then shot a guilty look at the boy next to him.

Harry hadn't moved.

Gritting his teeth and ignoring the full blown migraine that was now pounding through his head he tried to contact Savitar mentally.

Savitar had blocked him.

Wanting to scream in irritation Ash went for his phone instead, only to find that Harry was sleeping on top of it and to get it he'd either have to grope underneath him (which would be embarrassing if he woke up) or just push the kid off the bed.

He sighed and flumped back into his pillows. Screw this. He was too tired to yell at Savitar right now. He was even too tired to care that the kid was sleeping next to him and he _never_ let anyone sleep next to him if he could help it.

He didn't even notice when sleep took him and he fell into unconsciousness.


	2. Below

Ash woke slowly.

He felt good. No, he felt better than good. His head wasn't pounding – it didn't even hurt anymore.

Ash frowned a little as that thought sunk slowly through his sleep-drowsed mind.

He wasn't hurt at all. Actually, he felt better than he had ever been in all his long life. He was warm and comfortable and the dark storm in the back of his mind that raged continuously had quietened down. In fact, he felt so good that his body was trying to draw him back into sleep.

That thought alarmed him enough that he managed to wake up a little more; images of being ambushed in his bed causing adrenaline to rush through his bloodstream.

Then his pillow mumbled something and shifted beneath him.

Ash's eyes shot open.

He wasn't lying on a pillow – he was lying on the kid that Savitar had dropped off last night. And, to his horror, he was nuzzling his bare neck, teeth gently scraping the skin over the pulsing artery.

He scrambled to his hands and knees – trying desperately to keep from touching him. Harry.

The teen let out a whine of protest in his sleep and shivered slightly as the cool air hit his bare skin.

What had happened to the kid's shirt?

Please tell him that he hadn't vanished it in his _sleep_. That's all he'd need.

It was as he was staring at the sleeping man beneath him that Ash realised that he was harder than he had ever been in his life. Horrified, he almost leapt from the bed and flashed across to the other side of the room until his back was pressed against the cool wall.

At least they both had their pants on. That was some measure of small comfort.

Still, what had he _done?_ He'd been practically grinding against the boy in his sleep! The boy who didn't look more than seventeen. What the hell was _wrong_ with him?

He gritted his teeth then winced as his fangs cut his lip. Alarmed, he summoned a mirror into being and willed himself to have a reflection.

His fangs were fully descended and his eyes were a bright hellish red.

Dear gods.

Closing his eyes he banished the mirror and fisted his hands. Breathing deeply he tried to calm himself down – to push the demon back into the back of his conscious mind.

It was a struggle but after a few moments he felt his fangs recede and the familiar swirl of power seep into the back of his consciousness. The only difference being that instead of a storm that battered against his defences it was swirling gently, calmly.

He shook his head. Now was not the time to wonder about any of that. He'd think on it later – _after_ he had called Savitar and demand that he come and pick the boy up.

There was no way he was letting the guy stay with him – especially after this. Who knew _what_ would happen if he did? Maybe he'd do more than wake up with the kid below him – using him as a pillow.

Ash shuddered and changed into his usual ensemble, ignoring how his leather pants were just that little bit tighter than usual, and strode from the room without a second glance.

He needed Harry out of here _now_.


	3. Colour

Harry groaned as he came awake slowly.

Every part of his body hurt and he was _cold_. Squinting into the darkness he reached down and dragged the cover up and over his shoulders until he was cocooned in silky warmth.

Hold on.

Savitar would _never_ let him have silk sheets.

He opened his eyes slowly.

And why was he on a bed?

The faint stirrings of panic had him rolling over onto his back and sitting up sharply.

Then clutching his head in pain and falling back onto the pillows.

Ok, _that_ had been a bad idea.

After a few moments, and the headache stabilising, he opened his eyes again and slowly raised himself up on his elbows. The room was pitch black. The only way he could tell he was on a bed was that he was comfortable and it wasn't moving.

Definitely not like the time he woke up thinking he was on a bed and was, in fact, just sleeping on a bear. A bear that became very grumpy when woken by screaming.

He was completely alone as well. This was a good thing. Savitar often thought it was amusing to lock random angry mythological creatures in the same room as you to test you.

He called it 'training the survival reflex'.

Harry called him a bastard.

The only good thing that Harry'd gotten out of it was that he could now tell when something wanted to kill him in his sleep. And oftentimes could actually escape. Still asleep.

After deeming himself safe-ish, Harry held out his cupped palm.

" _Lumos_." He whispered, pushing a thin thread of magic through his hand until a dim glow lit up the room.

It was then his memory decided to kick in. Savitar had brought him here after a particularly gruelling training session.

He frowned, trying to remember just what Savitar had imparted whilst throwing water over him to clean him. Something about a new...guardian. Someone who'd be more willing to take him in than Savitar was.

Harry's only hope was that the man...Ash, he thought it was...was less sadistic than Savitar.

He sighed and looked down. Then blinked as a flash of colour caught his eye.

He blinked. Then blinked again.

He had a _tattoo_. A red dragon curled on his stomach.

What. The. Hell.

Feeding more magic into his hand to brighten the light didn't make the tattoo disappear either. In fact, it just made it gain more detail.

He poked it.

It wiggled.

A childlike giggle echoed in his head.

Harry thought this was a perfect time to panic.

_Akra-Harry?_

Harry swallowed hard, his eyes wide. Was he being possessed? It didn't feel like it – though the only other comparison he had was that time with Voldemort.

His brain wasn't working properly, in the end he just shrugged. In for a penny in for a pound.

_Hello?_

_Naaaaah...Akra? Are you gonna stay in bed all day? The Simi's got needs you know and is awful hungry for some sparklies._

_Um...?_

_Aaaaaakraaaaa!_

Was the weird voice in his head _whining_ at him?

_The Simi is not a voice. Simi is a Charonte! Silly Akra._

Holy shit! Harry scrambled out of bed and span in a circle before realising that the voice was in his head and not behind him.

_Simi is a good demon though! Simi likes the sparklies and barbeque! But Akri doesn't let me eats the peoples no more, only those moo moo cows and daimons._

Harry had the strangest suspicion that it was pouting. Then the rest of what it said caught up with him.

 _Who's Akri?_ He asked. Maybe it was someone who could control it.

_But Akra-Harry, Akri is Akri! He has the neat plastic that buys the Simi all kinds of sparklies and never says no to Simi! Akri is the best Akri the Simi could have!_

Harry blinked. Maybe he should just find his new guardian and see what he thought about it.

_His mamma is the nice queen goddess who gave the Simi her hornay warmers and lets her eat all kinds of stuff but Akri can't go visit her so Simi gets to go._

The voice was still babbling away inside his head.

Well...at least this possession didn't hurt.


	4. Range

The bedroom door had just closed behind Harry when he paused, uncertain which was he should go. He had never been here before and didn't know anything about where he was staying. What if...Ash? (and didn't he need to learn what he was called, fast) lived in a labyrinth? What if there was a Minotaur roaming his halls?

Hell, what if he just liked monsters in general and kept them as pets? As free pets. Because he was some kind of hippy.

Or what if he had some sort of secret laboratory that had monsters in cages and they all had gotten out by accident last night?

...Okay, he _really_ needed to stop watching horror films; they were making his imagination go crazy.

On the other hand, this guy _was_ a friend of Savitar...

Harry rubbed the back of his neck.

Guess it never hurt to be prepared...and completely paranoid. Completely paranoid sounded safe.

That sorted, Harry looked around him. He was in a hallway that seemed to run on forever. Left or right, which way should he go?

Harry shrugged, "Eenie meenie miny mo..." He rolled his eyes at his own childishness. Fuck it, he'd go left.

_Nyaaaa Akra-Harry's going the wrong way!_

Harry jerked at the voice in his head. How on earth had he managed to forget about that?

_The Simi don'ts know either._

"Right..." he said slowly and carefully turned to face right, "this way then?"

_Yup-yup!_

Harry took two steps forward before stopping suddenly and shooting a mistrustful look at the dragon on his stomach.

_The right way to where...?_

_To Akri, silly! Akri needs his Akra!_

Harry blinked.

 _Is Ash...Akri?_ He thought hesitantly at his new companion.

_Akri is Akri. I said before. Weren'ts you listening?_

The voice was pouting at him and Harry had the strong urge to comfort it.

_Of course I was listening! It's just...I needed a few minutes for the information to sink in. You took me by surprise that's all. Akri is Akri. Got it._

_Yay!_

Harry shook his head with a fond smile and started to walk down the hallway, trusting the voice – Simi? – to tell him if he needed to change direction.

"So..." he said, talking out loud because walking down this never ending corridor was just a _little_ bit creepy, "Is Ash nice?"

_Akri is the best Akri ever!_

"Do you...do you think he'll like me?" Harry mentally cursed the hopeful note in his voice. For seemingly his whole life he had wanted to be liked – to be accepted. He mostly blamed it on the Dursley's treatment of him during his early years. His Hogwarts years had been a rollercoaster of being both accepted one moment and hated the next – even by those he had considered his best friends. But who knew...if it all hadn't ended the way it did...

The only one who never changed was Luna. Which, considering, was probably a good thing.

And after it had all finished there was Savitar. Yes, Savitar trained him, but he made it extremely clear that he didn't really want to spend his time with him, and when he was forced he seemed to enjoy exercising his sadistic streak.

_Don'ts be silly! Akri will like Akra-Harry! How cans Akri not like his Akra? Stupid!_

Harry felt warmth bloom in his chest with a small smile, "You...you think?"

Before the voice could answer him a loud banging startled Harry into looking up; he was about two feet from a partially open door behind which someone was talking. On the spur of the moment Harry moved closer in range to hear clearer.

"Look Savitar, just take the kid back okay?"

Harry's smile dropped from his face and his chest seemed to turn to ice, numbing him so completely that he abstractly wondered just _how_ he could still breathe.

"Yeah...yeah okay, fine...but he _can't_ stay here!...Of course he can stay on the island! It's a _bloody island!_ Surely you could just ship him off to the other side!...Look, I don't _care_ – I don't want him, okay?"

Harry's breath caught in his throat and the voice in his head fell silent. He must have made some sort of noise because the next moment the door swung open completely and Harry was confronted with his new guardian who looked extremely irritated.

Ash took one look at Harry and snapped his phone shut, cutting off whatever excuse Savitar was trying to feed him.

"Were you eavesdropping on me?" He snapped.

Harry shook his head. "No, sir." He managed to force out.

Ash sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Why are you here?"

"I-I...the voice...told me to come here." And didn't _that_ sound crazy. Harry felt a blush rise on his cheeks.

Ash shot him a weird look. "Voice?"

"Um..." Harry pointed to his stomach.

Ash looked down and did a double take. "Simi..." he breathed.

"You know what it is?"

" _She_." Ash practically snarled and Harry flinched back, " _Simi is a girl_."

"Oh," Harry whispered, hanging his head, "Sorry."

Ash sighed harshly, "Simi, return."

The dragon tattoo – Simi, Harry reminded himself – seemed to reluctantly leave him, turning into a small red dragon with a flash then turned back into a tattoo on Ash's back. Harry flexed his hand, feeling suddenly very vulnerable and very alone.

"Right. Follow me."

Harry swallowed sharply as he followed his new guardian, blinking to keep tears from falling.

It had been stupid to think that for once he would be accepted. It had never happened before. It had always taken a while for someone just to accept him for being him – for being just Harry. Even Ron hadn't accepted him straight away, seeing first the boy-who-lived.

Harry shivered and crossed his arms across his stomach, belatedly realising that he still wasn't wearing a shirt. He'd be embarrassed but he just couldn't bring himself to care. His new guardian already hated him – what was wandering about not wearing a shirt going to do?

"Here." Ash stopped so abruptly that Harry almost walked straight into him; it was only the years of Harry having to trail behind Uncle Vernon that brought him up before he bumped into him.

"This can be your room for now."

Harry shifted awkwardly in his place, doing anything in his power to avoid looking at Ash. It wasn't like he hadn't noticed the 'for now' Ash had added onto the end of that sentence. "Thank you," he said quietly and hurriedly entered the room, closing the door swiftly behind him.


	5. Door

It had been a week.

One long week since Harry had arrived and Ash had caught him spying on him behind that door.

One week since he had last seen him.

One week since his maelstrom of power had been calm.

One week since Simi had talked to him.

At first Ash had been so angry. He had stormed straight to his throne room and had sat and glared at nothing for most of the rest of the day. Alexion had come in and raised an eyebrow at him when he spotted all the televisions off and Simi nowhere to be found.

Ash hadn't wanted to talk to him about what had happened though, and had ignored all attempts at conversation. Eventually Alexion had given up and left to do more paperwork, rolling his eyes and mumbling about sulking children under his breath.

Ash had snarled as the door had closed behind him. He was not sulking like a child damn it!

But, of course, hours later when his temper had cooled somewhat, he realised that he had indeed, somewhat, been acting at a level that was maybe below his age. But only a little.

By then the damage had been dealt and he had a guest that he had snapped at, Simi was angry with him and not talking to him and Alexion had gone back to his work.

That had left Ash all alone to go over what had happened. The more he had thought on it the guiltier he had begun to feel.

It had been entirely possible that Harry had been telling the truth. After all, this place was a labyrinth and it was easy to walk for hours and come across nobody.

Well, not that _that_ was hard. Only he, Simi and Alexion lived here. But he knew what he meant. There were some places even he hadn't explored yet.

Why, if Harry had turned left…he'd probably still be wandering the halls.

All the signs pointed to Simi directing him. And Simi would never do anything to hurt him.

Ash had sighed then. Simi was angry with him for being angry. Obviously she had taken a shine to Harry.

The thought had filled him with such anger that it was only later that he realised that he had crushed the arms of his throne in his hands.

Okay, obviously he needed to keep a close eye on Harry to make sure that he didn't do anything untoward to Simi.

The thought still had him restless so he had spent the night hunting daimons across the globe, popping from place to place where he knew daimons liked to congregate to ambush as many as possible.

Even when he had gotten back he was unsettled and Simi had not moved from her place on his back.

What had made it worse was the realisation three days later that he had turned his _back_ on Harry and hadn't even noticed. For the rest of the day he had felt wary and uncomfortable before he decided that he had been so angry at Savitar inconveniencing him that he had forgotten that he had been leading someone.

After all, what else could it be?

~#~

Ash sighed as he once again sat on his throne. Alexion had not let up on his questions after that first day and Ash didn't really know what to tell him what had happened without coming across as a jerk. He didn't even know how to explain away Simi's silence and non-appearance.

And he hadn't seen one hair of his guest.

Right now the room was empty and Ash had had enough. He was officially throwing in the towel.

"Simi?"

There was only silence.

"Simi, okay, you win. I'm sorry."

The silence stretched and Ash started to despair that he had ruined something and wouldn't be able to fix it when…

_Not's sorry enough._

Ash felt like he could cry in relief.

"Simi, I'm really sorry. I'll do whatever you want, I promise."

He felt Simi finally move from his back to his left shoulder, her head curling to rest just above his heart.

_You should say sorry._

"Okay Simi, I'm sorry."

_Not's to me! To Akra-Harry!_

Ash's brain crashed. It was an odd sensation. He could actually feel when all thought processes stopped.

"What?" He asked faintly, "what did you say?"

_Akri has to 'pologise to his Akra. Simi can't's believe that Akri was such a meany! Akra likes Akri and Akri was mean to his Akra!_

Ash opened and closed his mouth a few times in utter bewilderment.

What?

What the hell?

Did Simi just say _Akra?_

"Simi…" Ash started weakly, "Harry isn't Akra."

Simi was silent for a moment.

_Akri is still being meany to Akra-Harry._

And with that she moved back to her previous position on his back and went back to ignoring him.

"No!" Ash practically leapt out his throne. "Okay, I'll apologise to him! Just don't…"

 _You shoulds do it now._ She interrupted him.

Ash nodded and strode out of the throne room to the room that he had placed Harry.

The door was closed and just when Ash was about to knock he faltered. What if he had screwed up his chances? Would Simi keep ignoring him?

Letting out a soft sigh he pressed his palm and forehead against the door.

He couldn't live knowing that Simi was angry at him. Hell, he had barely lasted a week.

_You gots to open the door to 'pologise._

Ash gritted his teeth and gathered his courage. He would apologise to Harry for snapping at him and accusing him of eavesdropping and if Harry didn't accept it…well then that wasn't really his fault, so Simi couldn't be mad at him anymore.

With that decision made he grabbed the handle and opened the door, his mouth open and an apology on the tip of his tongue.

The apology died on his lips.

Harry was bent over backwards; his feet and palms pressed flat to the floor and his spine arching up in a display of flexibility that immediately made Ash's mouth go dry. Ash could only watch as a bead of sweat trickled down the middle of Harry's sternum and down his throat.

He must have strangled out some sort of noise because Harry's attention snapped to him and he gracefully unfolded himself until he was standing upright with a sheepish but wary smile.

Harry ran his hand through his hair feeling embarrassed that he'd been caught. "Uh, sorry." He said, "Just…keeping flexible you know? Never know when you'll need to twist out of the way…"

He trailed off when he saw that Ash was just staring at him.

"Um…" He tried again, "are you here to send me away?"

That seemed to snap Ash out of wherever his mind had disappeared off to as he wrinkled his nose in embarrassment.

"I…no. Actually I came here to apologise to you. I was out of line."

"Oh," Harry said, taken by surprise, "Well, really, you were well in your rights to…" he trailed off at the look Ash gave him, "right, yeah. Apology accepted."

Simi burst from Ash's back in dragon form with a high pitched shriek and quickly formed into a young girl of about six where she threw herself across the room and into Harry. Harry barely had enough time to brace himself before she crashed into his legs.

"The Simi knews it would be okay!"

Harry looked down at her startled, "Simi?" he asked as he glanced warily up at Ash to see if he was about to yell at him again.

Ash felt chagrined at the expression.

Seeing that Ash wasn't going to be tearing into him again he turned his attention back to the small girl wrapped around his waist that hadn't stopped babbling at him.

"-ands you _gots_ to try the barbeque sauce! It's the most _wonderful_ thing ever! And the sparklies! I gots to show you the sparklies!"

With that she grabbed Harry's hand and bodily dragged him from the room.

Harry, not expecting such a small child to have so much strength stumbled and would've fallen if Ash hadn't reached out and grabbed his other arm to steady him.

Harry shot him a thankful, if slightly flustered, smile and disappeared out the door.

Ash stared at the empty doorway for a moment, Simi's voice – "Akri lets me buy all the sparklies I want!" – getting fainter with the speed she was dragging Harry away. He switched his attention to his right hand which he had used to steady Harry. He could still feel the heat from his skin.

He clenched and relaxed his fist as he moved after his guest and his daughter.


	6. Degrees

It happened so gradually that Ash didn't even notice it.

First there was Notice; a quick glance up whenever Harry entered the room.

Next there was Acknowledgement; looking up and a nod of the head. Maybe even, if Ash was in a good mood, a quirk of the lips.

After that was Partial Attention. Ash would find himself increasingly drawn to the conversations Harry would have with Simi and Alexion. His attention would be particularly grabbed whenever Harry laughed, which happened more often than not when he was playing with Simi.

Then there was Distracted Attention; where Ash would find himself drawn from whatever he was supposed to be doing (which he was _sure_ was important) to whatever Harry, Simi and Alexion were doing at that moment in time. He was always on the outside though. Truth be told he felt a little uncomfortable at the thought of chiming in, of breaking up the comradery that had formed between the three that left him on the outside looking in.

What came next was Full Attention. It had happened completely by accident. Ash had been lounging in his throne, his booted feet thrown over the (still crushed) armrests, plucking random notes on his guitar whilst sneakily giving his full attention to the game that Harry and Simi were playing – exploding snap or something. Harry had said something and without thinking he had just come out with one of his one-liners.

He remembered feeling the bottom drop out of his stomach at the realisation that he'd just given himself away, he remembered feeling his heart seize at the sunned look on Harry and Simi's faces as they turned to face him. But for the life of him he can't remember what either Harry or he said because the bright grin and helpless peals of laughter that Harry succumbed too took up all of his cognitive thought processes at the time.

(Looking back he sometimes wished that he knew exactly what he said that broke that barrier between them but then he just shrugs – the memory of Harry looking like that because of _him_ is enough. At least he knows Harry finds him funny.)

Finally there was This, and Ash didn't even know what to call this. He went out of his way to talk to Harry, ask about him, his day. He tried every trick in his book to get Harry to laugh again. He conjured things that he new Harry would like – a selection of papers from England (to keep up with the news), a bottle of whiskey from a particularly fine year (Harry had once said that he was used to whiskey that burned like fire. He had agreed with Ash that Ash's choice tasted better), and treacle tarts (Harry seemed almost addicted to them, even though he didn't really like sweets all that much).

He also joined in whenever Simi managed to get Harry to play with her again (not that _that_ was hard mind you, Simi seemed to have Harry wrapped around her little finger. It probably helped that she still looked like a six year old and that Harry was coming to view her more and more as _his_ child rather than _Ash's_ ).

And he resolutely ignored Alexion's knowing smile.


	7. Project

Ash watched in amusement as Harry practically _bounced_ in place. "Now," he said slowly, "are you _absolutely_ sure you want to do this?"

Harry scowled and shot a venomous look at him. One that was completely undermined by his inability to keep still.

Ash chuckled, which lead to Harry's scowl turning into one of the most adorable pouts ever seen. Not that Ash would ever admit that though, due to the fact that he _did not_ find Harry adorable. At all. _Ever_.

" _Ash_ …" Harry whined.

Ash had to shift to try and temper his body's reaction. Gods damn it all he was _not_ going to blush!

"Of course I want to go!" Harry continued on blithely, completely oblivious to Ash's mental panic at his complete _lack_ of control over his own body. "It wasn't as if I could spend my time wandering around the city while Savitar was training me. I haven't been to the 'real world' in _ages_.

"Besides," Harry shot him a sly grin that had Ash giving up any and all pretences of even trying to gain control over himself, "I want to meet this best friend of yours."

Ash frowned slightly as jealousy stabbed through his chest at the thought of Harry wanting to meet Nick. He nodded a little reluctantly, even if Harry didn't seem to notice. "Okay, but Nick'll be working tonight so we'll just pop in quickly and then I'll take you to see the sights."

Harry smiled brightly. "Sure! Where are you taking me?"

Ash couldn't help but grin in return, "Ah, ah, ah! It's a surprise."

Harry pouted at him again and Ash had to feign checking over his backpack once again to give him time to regain his composure. He closed his eyes. Damn it all, what was _wrong_ with him lately? Harry was just a friend, right? Why on earth was his body reacting like this?

"Ash?"

Ash glanced up at the worried tone and barely stopped himself from jerking away and letting out an embarrassingly high-pitched yelp at the lack of distance between his face and Harry's. They were so close that Ash could feel the faintest wisps of Harry's breath brushing against his lips.

He had to clear his throat three times before he was sure his voice wasn't going to crack. "Yeah?"

Harry was looking at him with concern burning in his green eyes, "Are you okay? You were staring at your bag and you looked like you were in pain."

Ash swallowed dryly. "I'm fine." He blustered. "Er, yeah. How about we…um…head off now?"

Oh yes, he was one smooth customer tonight.

Ash grimaced slightly, who the hell said 'smooth customer' anymore? Even his inner voice has regressed at the proximity between himself and Harry. He could only pray that this was _not_ going to continue or he'd find himself saying something completely embarrassing like 'totally awesome' or even ' _dude_ '.

He sighed and wiped his face clean of anything but a smile. Harry was staring at him looking a little suspicious, but he didn't hesitate at grabbing hold of Ash's hand when Ash held it out for him to take.

~#~

They materialised in an empty, medium sized room panelled in a dark wood. One wall was completely taken up by a window that showed an expanse of open ground, hemmed in by trees and glowing silver under the moonlight.

There were two desks, each with its own state of the art computer set, facing each other but set at a slight angle so the window was more behind them then directly to the side.

Harry let go of Ash's hand and turned about, taking everything in with a sense of childish wonder.

Ash watched him fondly, though he clenched his hand into a fist at the sense of loss he felt when Harry moved further away from him.

To his surprise he found himself striding across the room until he was practically plastered against Harry's back. He was so close that he could smell the fruity shampoo that Harry used and had to restrain a smirk at the thought.

Harry glanced over his shoulder at him, questioningly and Ash racked his brain to think of a reason as to why he was standing so close. Surreptitiously he glanced around the room as the silence began to feel a little uncomfortable.

Awkwardly he nodded to the desk that Harry was standing in front of. "That's Nick's work space here at the house."

Harry blinked and (to Ash's relief) turned to look at the desk again, before smirking and hopping up to sit on it, facing Ash.

Ash's mouth instantly turned dry and he could _feel_ his heart thundering in his chest as his brain refused to acknowledge anything but the fact that he was practically standing between Harry's legs.

He was about to move or say something that would defuse whatever moment was building between them when Harry looked at him properly for the first time they had appeared in the mortal realm and gasped.

"Your _scar!_ "

Ash stiffened, his spine straightening and jaw clenching shut as his eyes closed themselves off.

Harry didn't seem to notice as he was staring at Ash's neck. "It's _gone_ …" he whispered in some surprise.

No one _ever_ mentioned his scars, not if they wanted to live. Ash wanted to snarl and lash out instinctively.

And he probably would have if Harry hadn't chosen, at that precise moment, to tug up Ash's t-shirt and run his fingers over his abdomen.

Ash found himself stiffening for an entirely different reason.

"Oh, _wow_ …" Harry murmured appreciatively as he trailed his fingers back and forth over the unblemished skin. "It's not just glamoured, it's like you've completely _removed_ it."

Harry leant forward to get a closer look and looped the fingers of his left hand in the waistband on Ash's leather pants to stop himself from slipping off the desk.

Ash stopped breathing as Harry's weight tugged his pants down slightly and his breath caressed his belly button.

"Hmm…" Harry mumbled to himself, "I wonder if _all_ …"

Ash quickly found himself going from not being able to breathe to trying not to pant as Harry's fingers danced across his stomach and chest as he tried to find any remains of the scarring.

He couldn't stop the twitch of his hips as Harry brushed over his rapidly sensitizing skin, even if he wanted to. He was also undeniably grateful that Harry's single-minded search left him too distracted to look _down_.

It wasn't until Harry's hand stopped moving and just lay pressed flat against his sternum that Ash regained enough sense to open his eyes (unable to say when he had closed them) and gaze down into bright green eyes.

Harry was staring at him, his gaze tinged with awe.

"It's completely gone."

Ash hummed lazily.

"Can you teach me how to do that?" Harry asked quietly, "Not…not get rid of it completely…just hide it?"

Ash (completely drunk on Harry's touch) reached out with his left hand and cupped Harry's cheek, his thumb brushing the lightning bolt scar. Harry shivered unconsciously and Ash smirked darkly, continuing to trace the scar relentlessly, delighting in the way Harry shifted under his ministrations.

"This one?" He asked, only a little shocked at how deep his voice had become.

Harry swallowed sharply. Ash watched; feeling very satisfied when Harry's eyes darkened and his lips parted, his breath speeding up.

"Yeah," Harry said breathlessly, "I…it marks me as the boy-who-lived and everyone always stares at it like it's some sort of holy sign. Sometimes I just want it gone. But," he trembled, his eyes fluttering shut as Ash drew his thumbnail across the mark, "b-but," he stuttered out, "i-it's also the reminder that my parents gave their lives for me – that they loved me. So I don't want it gone completely…"

"I _understand_ …" Ash whispered as he leant down, his own eyes sliding to half-mast as instinct took over.

"Oh my _God!_ What the _hell_ are you doing on my _desk?_ "

Ash and Harry jerked up and away from each other, the tension in the room immediately broken by Nick's horrified wail.

Harry turned to face the room's newest occupant looking completely dazed and thoroughly shagged (which really didn't help the situation at _all_ ).

Ash, for all his awesome god-powers, couldn't stop the blush darkening his cheeks as he took in the position Nick had found them in.

Harry, sitting on Nick's desk with Ash standing between his legs and cupping his face, hand shoved up Ash's shirt and the other curled into the waistband of his pants.

Even with the embarrassment, Ash could barely restrain a snort of mirth escaping him at the look of horror pasted on Nick's face.

Harry blinked a few times and seemed to come back to himself, immediately blushing bright red and stammering.

Ash scratched the back of his neck, "Harry, this is Nick. Nick, Harry."

Nick seemed to be coming out of his horror induced shock as he narrowed his eyes, glancing quickly between Harry and Ash a few times, noting both their blushes, before turning his attention solely on Harry and smirking.

"Pleasure to meetcha. Gotta say, Ash's never mention'd you to me before..." Nick held out his hand to Harry, shaking it solidly when Harry gripped it with a shy returning smile. "Guess he's been a bit… _busy_ lately…" Nick said genially, shooting Ash an evil smirk when Harry wasn't looking.

Ash felt a cold shiver travel down his spine at the look on his friends face. The knowing wink didn't help either. Oh gods, Nick looked exactly like he did when he had found a new project to work on. And Ash knew from experience that when Nick looked like that all obstacles in his way either moved, bent to his whims, or were destroyed completely.

Ash silently sent a prayer to whatever benevolent power there was who was listening (and willing to help and not just sit around laughing their arses off at his predicament) that both he and Harry would survive Nick reasonably unscathed.


	8. Chess

Nick was…okay, Nick was _not_ patient. At all. He was loud, uncouth (at times), did what he wanted whenever the hell he wanted to and didn't really care much about the feelings of anyone who wasn't _his_.

That wasn't to say that he was a bad guy.

Sure, he'd hustle you at pool, accidentally destroy your stuff and then lie (lie like hell) to get out of it. But to those he called friend he'd gladly take a bullet any day.

Well…if it was in a non-vital area.

Or if he _really_ had to because it was life or death for the other guy and he could recover from it.

Or if he was pushed in the way by some bastard behind him.

But really! He was a good guy! He just wasn't patient.

That's why he was rather surprised at himself over the past few weeks after that (traumatising) first meeting where he had walked in with Ash practically fucking some jailbait on his desk.

Okay, so maybe it wasn't quite that serious – but it was totally heading that way! Besides, he needs an excuse for the copious amounts of bleach that he wasted scrubbing his work area clean. (Place still smells like a freshly cleaned toilet and his desk is now two shades lighter then it should be.)

After figuring out that Ash was totally gay for the guy – Harry – it might have been weird, except it seemed neither Ash nor Harry had any idea that they were in some sort of gaymance that spanned epic proportions.

Nick had (very self-nobly) taken it upon himself to totally hook the two up (even if they had no idea that it was actually happening). And it was all for the good of Ash as well! Guy needed to get laid; maybe he would stop with the epic-mystery-crap that he seemed to pull off just to annoy him.

The problem was that Ash and Harry weren't co-operating with Nick's awesome plan and Nick had had to dig deep (way deep) to find the reserves needed to subtly manoeuvre the two of them into their places.

It was like a freaking chess match – and Nick had _never_ had time for that.

But for Ash – his best friend – he'd suffer through the headaches and the irritation when they bollocks up his manipulations (without even _trying_ the irritating twats) just because he knows that Harry makes Ash happy.

Even if Ash doesn't seem to realise it yet. The moron.

And besides, with him behind the scenes – he's going to make a killing wiping the floor with every gullible fool in the betting circle.


	9. Charm

Nick was impatiently waiting in his shared office at Kyrian's house for Ash and Harry to appear. Apparently, he and Harry had really hit it off and Harry had asked if they could hang out more.

Nick had spent the next three weeks terrified that Ash was going to god-bolt him while he slept.

Or while he was awake.

Or anytime he twitched.

It had taken Harry offhandedly mentioning that he enjoyed spending time with Nick because it made him feel closer to Ash, for Nick to finally un-tense enough to actually get some sleep.

Well…at least until Ash had started wondering if Nick was telling Harry any embarrassing stories about him. It didn't even seem to matter that Nick didn't _know_ any embarrassing stories, damn it!

They seemed to have settled into an uneasy truce though. Ash wouldn't god-bolt Nick if Nick would keep all eyes/ears/hands/stories to himself when it concerned Harry, and Harry…Harry would stay oblivious to any of the aforementioned agreement.

Nick sighed and slumped back against his desk, his arms crossed over his chest as he stared at the ceiling. Harry was late, by about half an hour, and Nick was trying really, _really_ hard not to imagine _why_ that could be.

Damn, just because he wanted what's best for his best friend didn't mean that he wanted _graphic images_ in his brain of what should be kept behind closed doors.

If only because Ash really _would_ kill him if he ever found out just what Nick was trying (unsuccessfully) to not imagine.

A laugh signalled the arrival of Ash and Harry. Nick glanced down from his perusal of the ceiling in time to see Ash with his arms wrapped around a helplessly laughing Harry. He cleared his throat to let them know that they had an audience (no need to stress over what Ash would do to him if he happened to witness anything like _that_ ).

At the sound Ash looked up, his narrow-eyed glare not impeded by sunglasses for once. Nick felt his insides clench at the sight. It was moments like these that reminded him that, no matter how much Ash was his best friend, he wasn't all human anymore.

Luckily (for Nick) Harry also glanced up and curtailed his laughter enough so that he wasn't solely relying on Ash to keep him standing.

"Hey Nick!" He greeted brightly, bouncing out of Ash's semi-embrace and over to Nick.

"Oh, yeah…hey…" Nick said strained, doing his best to ignore the way Ash's glare kicked up twelve notches, the way his desk started to smoke slightly and the way electricity jumped and crackled around the fingers of Ash's right hand.

Surreptitiously he stood up from his seat on his desk and moved to a position with a clear run at the door. If that happened to be a step or two away from Harry then…that was completely unintentional.

It still confused him how neither of them had realised how they acted around each other. Well, at least that was the case for Ash. Harry just seemed to marvel at anything – like he had never seen half the things Nick showed him.

Nick sometimes wondered if Harry really was a modern human, or if he was some sort of new type of Dark-Hunter that had been locked away in the middle ages for most of his life.

Guy didn't even know what _Mardi Gras_ was for gods' sake.

That's why Nick had planned a _special_ outing just for tonight. Ash had mentioned that he was going to be away for a few days – something to do with a Dark-Hunter in Australia (Nick had seen mentions of a problem on the message boards) and had asked Nick to keep Harry entertained.

After, of course, Nick witnessed Harry begging Ash to let him explore New Orleans while he was away and Ash practically stripping Harry with his gaze alone.

What made it worse was Nick's knowledge that Ash definitely had the power to do so and Nick was still in the room and did not want to become flambéed-Nick _thank you very much._

"So..."

Ash's voice startled Nick out of his inner-musing and he turned his attention back to the real world to see Ash rummaging through his rucksack like he'd lost something.

"What you doing tonight?"

Nick shrugged, even though Ash's attention was still on his bag, "Thought I'd take Harry to Sanctuary."

Ash froze before slowly looking up, his gaze chilled. Nick swallowed convulsively.

"Sanctuary?" he asked stiffly.

"Ooh! What's Sanctuary?" Harry chirped from beside Nick.

"It's a bar run by a bunch of were-bears."

Harry hummed in excitement, "That sounds wicked! Are we going there now?"

Ash was glaring at Nick, unseen by Harry who was paying more attention to fiddling with stuff on Nick's desk. "Sanctuary?" he asked again.

Nick shrugged and ran his fingers through his hair, "Thought I'd take him to meet my mom. Besides, you don't usually have a problem with the place, and it'll be safe. Safer than anywhere in the city."

Nick could see Ash's jaw working, "It's not that I have a problem with the _place_ …" he said, his voice strained.

And suddenly it all clicked. Nick (because he _totally_ had a death wish) smirked at Ash "Ooooh…don't worry. I won't let anyone hit on Harry."

Ash growled (actually growled!) and snarled out "And why would I worry about that?"

Nick mock-frowned, "So you wouldn't mind if Harry met some nice man and they had wild monkey-"

He was cut off when Ash was suddenly _there_ right in his face. "You let that happen, Nick," Ash breathed quietly, "and you will _not_ live to regret it."

It took a few seconds for Nick's heart to start beating again but when it did he leant in closer and whispered right back. "Do you even realise how you're acting?"

There was a moment where Nick was sure he had gone way over the best friend privileges and into the terminally stupid zone. A moment that was broken by Harry's amused "Do I need to leave you two _alone?_ "

Ash jerked back so fast he almost gave _Nick_ whiplash, his mouth opening and closing in shock.

Nick turned to see Harry glancing between the two of them, a smirk on his face. Obviously having missed the entire previously whispered conversation.

"'Cos, you know, I've got nothing against it…" He continued.

"No!" Ash practically shouted.

There was an awkward moment that occurs when someone protests too hard. Nick turned his gaze to the ceiling for lack of anything better to look at.

"I…I mean…er…" Ash stumbled over his words, the tips of his ears turning pink in his embarrassment as he rubbed at the bridge of his nose.

If ever Nick had had second thoughts about getting these two together, now was the time all hesitation was destroyed. Ash was acting like a school girl with a crush.

It was _hilarious_.

And very, very awkward.

"So…" Nick interrupted, saving Ash an embarrassing explanation that would just confuse everyone and probably seed misunderstandings galore. "Sanctuary. You ready?" He asked Harry, before he frowned as a thought occurred to him, "Wait. How old are you? Are you even legal to drink?"

Harry looked offended for a moment. "Of _course_ I…" he trailed off, "um…well I'm legal in the UK at least. What's the age limit here?"

"Twenty one."

Harry nodded, "I see. And what year is it?"

Nick looked at him weirdly.

"What?" Harry said defensively, "It's not my fault Savitar doesn't keep any kind of time measuring device on his island. And the wards kept messing with my magic."

"It's the 13th of August 2002."

Harry blinked. "Seriously? Huh. I'm twenty two then."

Nick stared at the boy – man – who looked no more than seventeen. He opened his mouth to deny it when he remembered that Ash looked no more than twenty one and yet he was over eleven thousand years old.

Instead he grinned and clapped Ash on the shoulder, "Hey, he's not jailbait!"

Ash glared at him and he quickly retracted his hand, running his fingers through his hair.

"Jailbait…?" Harry asked in confusion.

"Nothing." Nick denied. "We better get going. I want you to meet my mom before the evening dinner rush gets too much."

Harry shrugged and made his way over to the door. "Sure. See ya, Ash."

Ash lifted his hand in the air in farewell, glared at Nick for one last measure, and then disappeared. Nick shivered and followed after Harry.

~#~

Sanctuary was in full flow by the time Nick and Harry arrived. Nick grabbed two empty stools at the bar and waved at some of the people he knew.

The place was warm and heavy with the smells of bodies, beer and gumbo, with an underlying tint of animal. The music was loud and the chatter of the patrons even louder as they made themselves heard.

Nick loved it. So did Harry if the look on his face was anything to go by as he twisted around on his stool so he could see the entire room.

"Hey, Nick." Nick turned to see Aimee behind the bar, "You want anything to drink? Who's your friend?"

"Aimee, this is Harry. He's Ash's…er…" Nick trailed off, unable to label the weird relationship that Ash and Harry had at the moment.

Aimee's eyes widened and she looked Harry over with renewed interest. "Ash's?"

Nick nodded and she grimaced. "Better keep a look out then, don't really need Ash destroying the place if something happens to him."

"Don't I know it." Nick grumbled.

Aimee leaned in closer, "So how old is he?" she whispered, "He doesn't look older than seventeen but…" she trailed off but Nick got it.

Looks can be deceiving.

"Twenty two."

Aimee nodded, "Legal enough to drink then. I'll let the others know. Do you want anything?"

"I'll have a beer." Nick said and nudged Harry with his elbow to get his attention. "You want anything to drink?" he asked when Harry turned to look at him.

"Water?"

Nick grimaced and then shrugged. To each his own. He turned back to Aimee. "Water for Harry. And can we get two gumbo's to eat."

Aimee nodded, "I'll send your mom out with them."

"Thanks." Nick smiled and turned his attention back to his friend. Harry was looking over the room again in open curiosity, having missed the entire conversation between Nick and Aimee. For the most part he seemed to be really enjoying himself, but Nick could see a few lingering glances from both men and women that he'd have to dissuade from coming over.

He was just wondering whether Ash would hurt him if he slung his arm around Harry's shoulders when his mom bustled out of the kitchen with their dinner and distracted him.

"Harry," he said, "I want you to meet my mom. Mom, this is Harry. A…friend of Ash's."

Cherise turned to Harry with a smile and an outstretched hand. "Well, I hope my Nicky been treating you right."

Harry scrambled off his stool and took her hand, bowing low over it with a flourish. "It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am."

Nick watched in awe as his mom blushed and giggled like a school girl. "Oh, you don't need none of that now." She protested.

Harry straightened with a roguish grin, "On the contrary, it's just good manners to complement beautiful women."

Cherise pressed her hands against her cheeks. "Such a charmer. You're welcome home anytime you hungry, you hear? Maybe you can rub off on Nicky some." She ruffled Nick's hair, patted Harry on the shoulder and with one last giggle went back to the kitchen.

Nick turned slowly to stare at Harry who was tucking into his food with delight. "Dude." He said "That was my _mom._ And where did you learn to charm women like that?"

Nick could have sworn that Harry was completely clueless about anything to do with women or relationships.

Harry turned to him with a grin and a shrug. "My godfather mostly. I got to spend a couple of weeks with him and he took me aside and taught me the 'infamous Black charm'. Never really had any need to use it before though."

Nick could only stare. On one hand Harry had treated his mom with respect which automatically put him in his good books. On the other hand he had just witnessed his friend almost _hit_ on his mom - which was completely traumatising.

It was almost enough to put him off his food.


	10. Children

After that first time Nick had taken him to Sanctuary, Harry had fallen in love with the place. It reminded him of the Three Broomsticks without any of the bad memories, it allowed him to just sit there and forget and if things got too bad then he could just close his eyes and _pretend…_

"Akra?"

Harry opened his eyes and smiled at Simi, sitting opposite him in a pretty red dress with black lace edging. She was looking at him with worried eyes that looked too old for her six years, but smiled hesitantly back.

"Yes, Simi? Is there something you need?"

Simi grinned at him. "The Simi wants you to know that she is _very_ impressed that you gots them to make barbeque gumbo!"

Harry let out a clear laugh that caused people to glance over and inwardly thanked Cherise for honouring his odd request and coming up with the new recipe.

He leant over and smoothed down Simi's hair. "That's okay, I'm just glad you think it tastes nice."

Simi nodded and took another huge bite, holding still when Harry leant over and wiped around her mouth with his napkin.

Harry leant back in the booth and just watched his girl enjoying her dinner. Seems Ash was having some trouble with a daimon called Desdemona or something so couldn't make it. He was even reluctant to let Harry go out with Simi but had relented after Harry had swore on his life that he wouldn't let Simi get hurt.

Ash had stared at him for a moment before smiling softly and cupping his cheek in the palm of his hand – an action that left Harry's stomach lurching and himself confused – and murmured that he trusted him.

Just thinking about it was causing Harry to fight a blush, though he wasn't all that sure as to why Ash worried about him and trusting him to keep Simi safe was causing him to.

When Savitar had found him after…well, when Savitar had found him and taken him to be trained, he had never thought that he would be here, now, like this…

He sighed and tipped his head back. Five years. It had been five years since the final battle; since he had become Master of Death; since Voldemort had fired that last AK at him…since he had last seen his friends…

It was strange though, although he missed them he hadn't had time to really think on the final battle. When once he had thought that he might be crushed under the memories, Savitar's rigorous training had left him with no time to think on it.

Well, he _could_ but only if he wanted to die. And, no matter what had happened, he just couldn't find it in himself to _give up_ that easily, especially not after all he had been put through.

He supposed that was the Gryffindor in him. Or maybe it was the Slytherin. It didn't really matter much anyway. Maybe it was just _him._

"Akra…?"

Harry tipped his head back down and smiled sadly at Simi. "What baby?"

"Are you sad?"

Harry's smile turned brighter and he leant over to ruffle her hair, "Sad? With you? Is that even possible?"

Simi giggled and wriggled away so she could fix her hair. "The Simi is glad that Akra-Harry isn't sad."

Harry tilted his head. "Hey Simi? What does Akra and Akri mean anyway? You keep calling me Akra and I have no idea what it means. Is it good?"

Simi hummed, licking her spoon and looking a little abashed. "Ummm…means…" she mumbled "master and-"

" _What!_ "

Harry's horrified shout had people turning to him with wide eyes. Harry ignored them, leaning across the table, "You mean that you've been calling me _master?"_

Simi hesitated and then nodded slowly, her eyes wide.

Harry felt like he was choking as his stomach plummeted. He was beyond horrified. _Master!_ His baby had… _Voldemort_ …he couldn't…did _Ash_ know?

" _No_." he whispered, his voice harsh, " _Don't ever call me that again!_ "

Simi looked like she wanted to cry.

Harry could barely stand it. Without a second to spare he had moved to the other side of the booth and had Simi sitting on his lap as he hugged her, gently rocking her as she snuffled into his shirt.

"Oh, no, baby…I didn't mean it like that. Just, is there nothing better?"

Simi sniffed loudly and dropped her head until she was mumbling into Harry's chest. "Well…there's Matera…"

Harry blinked. "And what does _Matera_ mean?"

"Like…like a _parent_ …" was her quiet reply.

Harry sighed happily. "That's much better. I would _love_ for you to call me that."

"Really?" Simi looked up at him with wide, watery eyes.

Harry melted. "Really," he repeated, squeezing her tighter.

Simi let out a happy cry and hugged him. "Yay! I have a Matera! Matera, can the Simi have another bowl of barbeque gumbo?"

"Sure baby."

"And can we go out to the Simi's store after? They said they was going to have new bags and would let the Simi have first choice!"

"Of course we can."

"And cans we go see the sparklie store afterwards? The Simi needs new sparklies Matera."

"Anything you want."

~#~

Quinn had been watching the entire exchange, dumbfounded, from his place behind the bar.

He turned to his sister. "Is that a girl thing?"

Aimee glanced at the unlikely duo before turning to smirk at her brother. "It's a daughter thing."


	11. Lost Scene

Harry liked Sanctuary.

Ash _knew_ that. Knew that Harry liked the busy chatter, the ability to either be part of the crowd or an outsider looking in. He liked the people who frequented there and he liked the people who worked there.

He had even adhered himself in the maternal instincts of Mama Peltier – and any who knew the matriarch could testify as to how difficult it was just getting into her good graces.

Ash wasn't quite sure how Harry had managed it (though it filled him with a certain sense of dread whenever he found himself under the narrow-eyed gaze of the bear-swan, and he had the strangest urge to treat Harry like spun glass).

Harry also liked the music, the food and the drink that was served there.

Ergo, it was a pretty done deal that Harry would say 'yes' if Ash invited him to an evening out at Sanctuary.

But that didn't explain why whenever Ash thought about it his heart started to race and his skin felt too tight. It also didn't explain why whenever he built himself up enough to ask, his throat would suddenly clog and he'd be left opening and closing his mouth embarrassingly as Harry tilted his head in confusion.

Ash groaned and thumped his head back against the backrest of his throne; ignoring Alexion's rolled eyes as he sat watching the TV next to Simi.

Ash groaned again.

"You know," Alexion cut across his inner-confusion "that's the thirty seventh time in the past two hours that you've groaned. Either you need to see a doctor, or you need to get a room and deal with your problem."

Ash scowled at Alexion's unrepentant expression.

"You need to see a doctor?"

Ash started violently at Harry's clear voice coming from behind his chair, enough so that he almost fell to the floor.

"Er, what? No! No, no, I'm fine." Ash blustered as he stood quickly to face Harry.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked slowly.

"Yes! Yes, completely and utterly fine!" Ash laughed awkwardly – which probably didn't help any.

Harry stared at him suspiciously, his gaze raking over Ash's form and Ash would never, ever admit to what that gaze was doing to him.

Alexion's cheshire-grin wasn't helping any and Ash had to restrain himself from taking a step back when Harry stepped closer to him to get a better look – as if he could see under Ash's clothes to any phantom ill's that Ash had.

And the thought of Harry seeing him naked wasn't helping _either_ and Ash had to close his eyes to centre himself enough so that he wouldn't do anything mortifying.

Eventually, he gained enough control of himself to open his eyes and clear his throat.

Harry hadn't come any closer to him in the time it had taken him to do this and Ash was both relieved and extremely disappointed.

"If you're fine, then what did Alexion mean?"

Ash opened his mouth to explain when "Would you like to go to Sanctuary with me? Tonight. For drinks?" came out instead. He snapped his mouth shut in disbelief at what he'd just done.

Harry looked startled at the abrupt change in topic and out of the corner of his eye Ash could see Simi looking at him in curiosity as Alexion stared at him incredulously.

"Yeah, sure. That sounds great."

Ash's attention was ripped back to Harry and he spent a moment floundering as his brain worked to process what Harry had said. When it finally clicked he blinked.

"Really?"

Harry smiled at him in bemusement, his head tilted to the side. "Yeah." He repeated, "Drinks with you sounds good. When do you want to leave? Do I need to change?"

Ash let his eyes trail over the old red polo top (that was as soft as air to the touch) and the blue jeans (washed so much that they had faded to a blue so pale it was almost white) that Harry was wearing.

"You look perfect." He said, and then mentally cursed his mouth as it once again said exactly what he was thinking.

Harry flushed slightly and tugged self-consciously on the hem of his shirt. "Um, yeah. Thanks." He mumbled. "So, um, how we getting there?"

Ash cleared his throat, his face feeling warm as he held out his hand for Harry to take, swallowing sharply when Harry tentatively gripped him and interlocked their fingers. He couldn't help the small squeeze he gave just before they disappeared.

~#~

Alexion stared at the now empty space for a few moments, trying to sort out everything he had just been witness to.

"Are they going out on a date?"

Alexion turned to Simi with a smirk at her question. "I believe so."

Simi nodded, looking thoughtful. "And then Akri and Matera will have sex."

Alexion choked, his smirk changing to a look of absolute horror. " _What?_ "

Simi cocked her head to the side, studying him like he was a pet that had just done something unexpected and she was unsure whether or not to scold him for it.

"Matera? Sex? _Matera?_ " Alexion seemed to be stuck. There was something so disturbing about the way Simi had just come out with it – and yeah, inwardly he knew that she was eleven thousand, but she was still looking like a six year old and it just felt _wrong_.

Simi seemed to have made a decision and was looking at him pityingly. That felt wrong as well.

"You can't just come out and _say_ …how do you even _know_ …?"

Simi patted him consolingly on the arm and turned back to the TV. "The Simi has cable."

~#~

Ash and Harry arrived just outside of Sanctuary in a shadowed area that hid them from any wandering gazes.

He strode forward, Harry trotting behind him to keep up, and nodded to Dev on the door. Dev glanced at him and Harry with a raised eyebrow but nodded them through.

The heat hit them immediately and Ash felt something inside him relax, even when the music changed from a generic rock song to the first guitar chords of _Sweet Home Alabama_.

Spying a table free at the edge of the room he made his way over to it. He could feel Harry pressed close to his back as he followed but it wasn't until he actually arrived that he realised that their hands were still intertwined.

He quickly let go, but pulled out a chair for Harry so that he didn't give the impression that he hated touching him or anything.

Harry smiled as he sat down, reaching for the menu.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" Ash asked.

Harry shrugged and grinned, "Why don't you surprise me?"

It took a moment for Ash to come back to himself, caught in Harry's smile, but he smile back, nodded, and made his way over to the bar.

Harry perused the menu until a glass clinked down on the table in front of him. He looked from it to Ash in question.

Ash shrugged as he sat down, taking a sip of his own drink, "Vodka Martini." He said in reply, "Thought you might like to try it. If you want I can get you something else."

Harry traced a drop of moisture down the stem of the glass with his finger before lifting the drink and taking a sip. He turned back to Ash (who was doing his best to not act as nervous as he actually was).

"This is really nice!"

Ash sighed in relief and leant forward with a smile, "So, is there anything you wanted to eat? We could get a something to share?"

~#~

Hours later, Ash was sitting back in his seat listening to one of Harry's stories. He would have liked to say that he was paying avid attention, but he wasn't. Not really. Not when he kept getting distracted by Harry's hands whenever he gestured or Harry's lips whenever he smiled or the sparkle that appeared in Harry's eyes whenever he remembered something amusing.

The chatter of people had quietened to a hum – most of the tourists having left earlier on in the night, leaving only the hardcore drinkers and were-hunters. The lights had dimmed, throwing a golden glow over everything and darkening the shadows, creating a lazy intimacy that Ash enjoyed.

Their tabletop was littered with empty glasses and Ash knew – could tell by the way Harry's pupils had dilated – that he'd perhaps passed tipsy a long while ago and had headed into drunkenness. But he couldn't bring himself to care. Harry was enjoying himself and there was an openness to him at this moment in time that had heat coiling through Ash's stomach.

Their legs had become intertwined under the table sometime during the evening and neither one seemed to find the need to move. Ash could feel the heat sear him through the leather of his trousers.

Harry came to an exciting part of his story as he reached forward and gripped Ash's arm, his fingers curling over the sensitive skin on his inner-wrist as he gestured with his other hand, his whole body leaning forward towards Ash, his voice lowering.

Ash smiled.

This.

_This._

This is what he had missed.

Here. Now. It was easy to pretend that this was all that there was. Him, Harry, the table between them and the atmosphere that whispered silent promises in his ear.

He could forget his past. Forget everything that had been done to him. He could just be the twenty-one year old his appearance made him out to be.

He twisted his wrist so that Harry's hand fell naturally into his grasp, Harry not even faltering at the change, and let this lost scene from a life that never existed keep playing.


	12. Animal

Sanctuary was closed, the quads mopping the floor as Aimee cleaned the counter. Or, at least that was what she was supposed to be doing; instead she was having a very amusing conversation with a drunk Harry who had commandeered Ash's lap to sit on.

Ash wasn't complaining. Not even when he had to put his hands on Harry's hips to stabilise him so he wouldn't end up on the floor.

"So," Harry asked, leaning forward in a way that made Ash close his eyes and Aimee smirk, "you're _all_ animals?"

"Yeah."

Harry slumped back into Ash's chest and looked Aimee over with narrowed eyes. "Really? What do you turn into?"

"I'm a bear." She answered, swiping the counter with the cloth to keep up the pretence of working.

Harry's eyes bugged out of their sockets as he choked. "A bear!" he said loudly, causing the quads to look over and scowl at their sister who was obviously not cleaning. She smiled sheepishly at them and ran the cloth over the bar again.

"I know it sounds a bit farfetched that we can turn into animals-" she started, but was cut off by Harry's scoff.

"It's not the animal thing, it's the bear thing. I would never have pegged you as a bear."

Aimee blinked. "You're not weirded out by the fact that I turn into a bear?"

"No?"

"Why not?"

"Because I can turn into an animal too?"

Aimee dropped the cleaning cloth on the bar and leaned forwards to run her gaze over Harry. "You? You can turn into an animal? You're not a were-hunter!"

Harry cocked his head to the side. "You don't have to be a were-hunter to turn into an animal – it's a skill. I'm an animagus."

"Oh, I have _got_ to see this." Aimee breathed. "Go on, what can you turn into?"

"Probably something harmless." Remi said as he propped his mop against the bar. "Look at him."

Harry bristled. "I am not harmless! I'm ferocious!"

"Yeah, I'm not gonna believe that until I see it." Remi rolled his eyes.

"I have teeth! And claws!"

"So does a hamster." Remi shot back with a smirk.

Harry's jaw dropped. By this time the rest of the quads had also given up all pretence of working and had made their way over to the bar as well.

"Remi," Cherif chastised, "stop taunting the small human."

"A…a _hamster!_ " Harry choked, beyond offended. "I am _not_ a hamster! I eat hamsters for _breakfast!_ "

Ash had to bury his face in Harry's hair to hide his grin as he repressed laughter. It didn't seem to work as Harry spun around and angrily poked him in the chest. "You! I _know_ you're laughing!"

It took all of Ash's power for him to keep a straight face as he looked down at the man in his lap. Harry looked at him suspiciously for a moment and Ash was just about to get away with it when he relaxed and a chuckle bubbled up. He clapped his hand over his mouth but the damage was done and Harry was staring at him with a betrayed look on his face.

"Harry," he tried, "I am so sorry." Another laugh bubbled up and he quickly had to turn his head so Harry wouldn't catch the huge grin threatening to crack his face in half.

"Oh, that is _it_." Harry huffed and closed his eyes, concentrating.

Ash was about to ask what he was doing when he found himself with a lap full of black fur. His eyes widened as he stared in surprise at the kitten which mewled at him before turning on his thigh, shaking it's rump and sprang onto the counter. It didn't quite make it and was left clawing it's way up, hissing quietly as it's tail lashed back and forth.

After two near-misses it managed to get all it's feet underneath it and it sat down, staring imperiously at the five bears and one god that was staring back at it in shock.

"Harry?" Ash asked.

The kitten sniffed and licked it's paw.

"Oh my God…" Aimee breathed.

"He's adorable." Remi said in shock, glaring at the weird looks his siblings gave him.

Harry hissed at him in anger, ears pinned back and puffing up until he was twice his size.

"So harmless and _cute_..." Remi cooed mockingly, reaching forward to pet it.

Harry swiped at his hand. Remi pulled back with a yelp, cradling his new injury close to his chest.

"Remi." Ash said over the top of the still hissing kitten, "Don't taunt him."

"Yeah, Remi." Aimee grinned, "I think he proved you wrong anyway."

Remi scowled as he licked the beads of blood from his fingers.

Ash reached forward to the little ball of fur. Harry pounced on his hand, claws latching into the back and teeth gnawing on a finger as his tail wrapped around Ash's wrist.

Ash smiled as he pulled his hand back, kitten still attached. It didn't hurt. It seemed that Harry had just wanted to make a point as not two seconds later he had stopped biting and was now licking the shallow indentations that he had made with his teeth apologetically.

Ash couldn't resist and started to scratch behind Harry's ear, being rewarded with a puddle of black, purring goo in his palm.

"He's adorable." Aimee whispered, barely heard of the volume of purrs.

"Yeah." Ash agreed as he petted the small form, taking an almost childish delight in the action.

Aimee's lips twitched, "Maybe you should take him home. I don't think he's going to change back any time soon." She said.

Ash looked up and blinked in surprise. "Oh, yeah. He was pretty far gone, he might be too drunk to remember how to."

Aimee smiled in amusement. "That wasn't what I meant."

Ash shot her a questioning glance as he stood but she only shook her head and picked up the cleaning cloth again, getting back to work.

Shrugging, Ash disappeared Harry and himself back home.


	13. Fruity

Ash knocked on Harry's door and, when he didn't hear anything, cautiously opened it. It had been a day since they had come back from Sanctuary and Ash hadn't seen hide nor hair of his houseguest. He was starting to worry.

The room was dark and it took a few moments for Ash's eyes to adjust. When they had he glanced around the room, his eyes drawn to a lump under the covers of the bed.

Slipping through the door he closed it carefully behind him in case Harry was still suffering under a hangover.

"Harry?" He whispered cautiously picking his way across the floor. "Harry, you okay?"

The lump groaned and buried itself further under the sheets.

Ash had no idea if that was a good thing or a bad thing. He'd have to get closer to check. Slowly, like he was approaching a bear with a bad tooth, he reached forward and lifted up a corner of the bedding, being rewarded with Harry – his face buried in his hands.

Ash frowned and pulled the bedding all the way back.

"Harry? Does your head hurt?"

Harry shook his head.

"Are you hung over?" Ash asked instead.

Again, Harry shook his head.

Ash blinked, nonplussed, and pulled Harry's hands away from his face, keeping a grip on his wrists in case he tried to pull back. "Then what's wrong?"

Harry looked up at him from his back, his face red. Ash wondered if maybe he had a fever or something. Transferring both wrists into one hand he reached out with his other and placed it on Harry's forehead.

The flush darkened and Harry made a little moaning noise.

"Are you sick?" Ash asked in concern, a note of panic entering his voice, "You feel quite warm."

Harry grimaced and shook his head, tugging at the wrists still in Ash's grip. Ash didn't let go, so instead, Harry turned his face into his pillow.

Ash tilted his head so he could see Harry better, the glint of green through his half-lidded eyes.

"Harry," he said a little helplessly, "I can't help if I don't know what's got you acting like this."

Harry scrunched up his face, then sighed heavily and sat up and tugged his wrists out of Ash's grip as he swung his legs over the side of the bed.

"I'm not sick." He said, ducking his head, "Just…embarrassed."

Ash blinked. "Embarrassed?" He asked, "Embarrassed about what?"

Harry stood and paced the length of the bed, his arms crossed across his bare chest.

It was about then that Ash finally realised that Harry was only wearing boxers. He felt his own cheeks heating up and quickly averted his eyes to Harry's face.

Harry hadn't noticed, instead he stopped pacing and whirled on Ash. "I'm embarrassed by how I acted last night."

Ash smiled in bemusement. "I'm pretty sure they've seen worse drunks…"

"No, not-" Harry winced dropped his head. "About…" he whispered hoarsely, "about my animagus form."

Ash frowned as he tried to work out the logic behind that. "You're embarrassed…" he hazarded, "because now people know you can turn into a kitten?"

Harry bristled and anger flashed in his eyes. Ash wondered how he could ever miss the obvious feline qualities to some of his movements.

"I'm not a _kitten!_ " Harry hissed.

"Then…what are you?"

"I'm a _Felis Catus Magus_."

Ash worked that out, and then had to quickly bite the inside of his cheek. "You're a magical cat?" he asked in amusement.

Harry rolled a shoulder and turned away from Ash. Ash had to wonder that if Harry was in his animagus form, would his tail be thrashing back and forth in annoyance. Yes, probably.

He tore his gaze away when he realised that he had been staring at Harry's arse.

"Well, if you're going to ridiculously oversimplify things…" Harry conceded.

Ash stood and made his way over to where Harry was standing. "So what's wrong with that?"

Harry made a noise of annoyance, a sort of growling chirp that Ash had heard other cats make. He resisted laughing.

"You don't understand," Harry said finally, "with magical animagus' the form grows with the person's magical core. If I had just been a normal cat I would be a fully formed adult."

Ash shrugged and took another step forward, until he was standing a little closer than social customs dictated. "So?" he asked, "You'll grow."

"But that's just it!" Harry said, defeat lacing his voice, "When I became immortal I stopped growing! I'm frozen like this! I'm never going to grow into my adult form."

Ash frowned and without thinking reached forward and scratched behind Harry's ear, like he would to comfort a cat.

Harry's eyes rolled back as his head tilted into the caress. Ash almost stopped though when Harry latched onto the front of his shirt; pushing the entire length of his body up against him in one long undulating wave, heat searing through his clothes.

Instead he took a shaky breath, and swallowed dryly. He did find it slightly amusing when Harry started to purr loudly and knead at the front of his shirt. He glanced down to see Harry's upturned face, eyes fluttering and naked with pleasure, and found himself instantly hard.

He could hear his heart pounding, his body almost shaking with the force of it, until the sound was drowned out by the roaring of his own demon. The power a twisting tornado of _want_ and _need_ and screaming at him to claim.

Frozen to the spot at his body's reaction, he could only watch as Harry started to rub his cheek and temple across his chest. Breathing in sharply when Harry pushed closer still and started to wiggle against him.

The screaming increased and Ash could do nothing but press his hand against the small of Harry's back and push him against him. Eyes blinking closed for a moment at the delicious friction.

It was only when Harry glared at him in half lidded lazy annoyance that Ash realised that he'd stopped scratching and immediately rectified the situation. Harry giving a chirp of approval and closed his eyes, cheek pressed against Ash's heart and fingers still kneading as his purr's vibrated through Ash chest and did even more interesting things to his anatomy.

The muscles in his neck and shoulders were hurting with the restraint needed to not throw Harry down on the bed and teach him just what a little tease he was being. He wasn't even able to think about anything but the here and now, the feel of Harry pressed against him, moving against him without realising the effect that he was having.

There was the faint thought that there was something…in his…past…

Ash groaned and buried his face in Harry's hair, desperate to gain any semblance of restraint, the smell of his shampoo wrapping around him. Ash could pick out strawberries, raspberries and passion fruit. It was fruity and so very feminine and felt like silk across his skin.

And it wasn't helping his control at all.

Jerking back he reached up with his free hand for Harry's shoulder to shake him out of his blissful stupor, completely forgetting that he was still scratching behind his ear and thus _causing_ said stupor.

Harry ducked his head, running his cheek over the extended fingers before happily lapping at the fingertips.

It was the final straw.

Ash threw Harry onto the bed, desperately ignoring the startled squeak and the way Harry instinctively twisted to land crouched on his hands and feet, a look of stunned surprise on his face, and immediately disappeared to his own quarters.

He appeared completely naked in the coldest shower he had ever had, where he stayed until he had turned faintly blue, refusing to look down. Denying that the blue tinge was from anything but the cold.


	14. Comedy of Errors

Once Harry had regained his senses, he had blushed crimson and had promptly tried to suffocate himself with his pillow.

What the hell had that been about? His only excuse was that his animagus form affected him more than he had first thought. Not that _that_ was as big a surprise as it should have been.

He had only completed his transformation a week before the final battle and both Hermione and Ron – the only two people who would even _think_ about touching him – were too busy to do so.

They had both had just enough time to work out why he was a kitten when Hogwarts was being overrun. Then they were too busy fighting for their lives to even think about anything but trying to live through the next few minutes.

Straight after that Savitar had found him and spirited him away from the magical world to be trained on his island. And Merlin knew Savitar wasn't one for touchy feely huggy moments.

No matter how funny and terrifying the image was.

He spent a few moments imagine Savitar trying to hug him and mentally scarred himself by accident.

After the immediate embarrassment had died down, Harry had hoped that he and Ash would be able to talk about what happened. He needed to explain why he had rubbed himself all over him.

But Ash didn't return.

Harry had sat on his bed, waiting, for hours before he realised that Ash might be too freaked out by his behaviour to return.

Feeling uneasy, he had gone to sleep that night vowing to himself to find Ash as soon as he woke to explain just what had happened.

The next day Harry had woke feeling determined to find Ash and talk. The only problem was that Ash seemed to have disappeared. Harry had frequented all the usual haunts, even going so far as to make his way to Ash's bedroom – where he stood outside the door awkwardly, unable to muster the courage needed to knock.

In the end he had sighed and walked back to the throne room, consoling himself with the thought that if Ash was locked in his room then he was obviously in there for a reason. Like, maybe he'd been really busy after he'd left Harry's room last night and now he was tired out?

It didn't really console him and that night he spent the entire time restlessly tossing and turning; his brain refusing to switch off. He went from being mortified by his actions, to hurt that he hadn't been able to talk things through with Ash, to worried over Ash's state of being.

The second day wasn't much better. In fact, it could said to be _worse_ as it had all the emotional drama of yesterday _on top_ of no sleep. And still there was no sign of Ash.

Harry had just decided to call it a day. He was really feeling the effects of not being able to sleep and he had a headache. Then Ash walked through the door like nothing was wrong in the world.

"Ash," Harry said in shock. After all that and Ash didn't even seem to be bothered by anything? Where had he gone? Had he been avoiding him?

At the sound of his name Ash turned and stiffened. Harry could see him tense and took a step forward, "I-"

Ash didn't let him finish. He whirled around and immediately left the room, shutting the door firmly behind him. Harry stared after him, shocked.

_What the hell did that mean?_

Shit! He'd never been so confused in his life! Did this mean that Ash hated him? Did he feel weird being around Harry now? He'd certainly ran from the room fast enough that was for certain.

What should he do now?

Unfortunately, there was no one in his head to enlighten him, so he had to go to bed feeling even more worried than ever.

Day three had him lying in bed, emotionally and physically exhausted. He'd been unable to sleep again last night and he just couldn't take it anymore. If Ash hated him, then that was fine. He'd just have to find a way to deal with that.

But he couldn't physically last much longer. Ash was probably going to spend the day avoiding him again, so he was going to do the thing he should have done at the very beginning. He was going to go talk to Alexion.

Levering himself out of bed, he staggered to the bathroom to splash cold water on his face. Grimacing as he glanced in the mirror. Merlin, he looked like shit.

Great, he looked exactly how he felt. Perfect. But he couldn't bring himself to care all that much anyway.

Alexion was pretty easy to find as he was only really in two places. Harry had checked the throne room first, ruthlessly squashing the vain hope that Ash might be there instead.

Neither of them was so Harry had swiftly made his way to Alexion's rooms. Trying to tell himself that he wasn't disappointed that he hadn't seen Ash.

A quiet knock confirmed that Alexion was indeed in residence and Harry entered hesitantly, closing the door quietly behind him as Alexion banished the images his _sfora_ was casting on the walls.

"Harry," Alexion said in concern as he looked over his newest friend, "are you okay?"

Harry stared at him for a moment, unable to do anything as every single emotion and worry he had felt in the last three days crashed over him all at once in the face of Alexion's kindness.

"No." He croaked out, and then promptly burst into tears.

~#~

Ash spent the next three days continuously berating himself over his actions whilst simultaneously avoiding Harry at all times.

It was a lot harder than he thought it would be. The avoiding Harry part, that is. The blaming himself part he had down pat. He would think that with a place as big as Katoteros, he could easily lose himself for a few days.

Apparently not.

Ash had lost count of the times he had walked into a room, caught sight of Harry and had to promptly duck out of the room again before Harry spotted him. It was getting old.

There'd only been the once where Harry had caught him. Ash had been so shocked that he'd frozen and immediately gone on autopilot. This meant that he ran from the room, slamming the door behind him.

Because that's how he dealt with problems apparently.

He glanced behind him as he strode down the corridor. All clear, so far that is. He hadn't seen Harry at all today so it was shaping up to be good…or at least not a stressful.

A movement in the corner of his eye had him ducking into a room on his left. A room that just so happened to be Alexion's room.

"Ah!"

At the startled exclamation, Ash jerked his head around so fast his neck wrenched. He winced at the pain, but it soon turned into a grimace at the sight of Harry standing next to Alexion with tears running down his face.

"Ash," Harry said hesitantly, his voice hoarse, taking a step forward, "I-"

Ash didn't wait to hear Harry tell him how much Ash disgusted him, how much he hated him for taking advantage of him. Instead Ash spat out a curse and disappeared to the other side of the palace ready and willing to hide for the next few days, months, years.

Or, at least that was what was _supposed_ to happen. He didn't count on a pissed off Alexion storming after him and dragging him back.

And what was with Alexion feeling anything anyhow! Wasn't he supposed to be emotionless right about now?

He was brought out of his thoughts (and growing panic) when Alexion shoved him harshly into his room.

"There. Sort it out." He spat, slamming the door shut behind him.

Ash winced and turned to face Harry, but before he could open his mouth, Harry spoke first.

"I'm s-sorry." He hiccupped. "I'm really, really sorry, Ash."

"Er…" Ash said, blindsided. Shouldn't _he_ be the one apologising?

"Please don't hate me." Harry sobbed, fresh tears appearing as he wrapped his arms around his middle – the sight of which had Ash's stomach clenching unpleasantly, "I didn't know that was going to happen, I swear! I-it was just m-my a-ani-nimagus form!" He brought a hand up to scrub at his face, "I promise I won't touch you ag-gain b-but d-don't hate me or run or anything _please_."

Ash couldn't take it anymore. It had all been a misunderstanding and he felt like a fool. He didn't know how to make it up to Harry but he knew how to start.

It took him two strides to get across the room and have Harry in his arms. Harry sobbed harder and clung to his silk formesta – his hands knotting in the material at the base of Ash's spine – as Ash ran his fingers through Harry's hair.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Harry repeated, over and over into his chest, and Ash felt his heart break.

He leant back, pushing Harry away slightly so he could look him in the eye. Harry didn't want to go, shaking his head and clutching harder.

"Harry," he murmured quietly, his hands framing Harry's face, "Harry look at me."

He could _see_ Harry steeling himself for a blow.

"I'm sorry." His admission had Harry blinking up at him in shock.

"W-wh-"

"I'm _sorry_." Ash interrupted, closing his eyes. "It's my fault you're acting like this." He shook his head and wrapped his arms back around Harry's unmoving form, curling around him until he could bury his face in Harry's hair.

"Ash…?" Harry breathed against Ash's neck, trembling in relief that Ash _didn't_ hate him, "Then why'd you…?"

Ash took a deep breath, the smell of Harry so familiar that it immediately soothed him. "I-I thought that you would wake up and find me disgusting." Ash confessed quietly, knowing that he owed Harry more than just an explanation, "I was…worried…that you'd…" he trailed off and gripped Harry tighter, "I didn't want you to look at me with disgust in your eyes."

The last was said so quietly that he was unsure whether Harry heard him or not. At least until Harry leaned back slightly and looked at him incredulously.

"Disgust…?" he said in disbelief, "Ash, I don't think I could find you disgusting even if I tried. What are you talking about? Who finds you disgusting? And why would you think _I_ would find you disgusting? I was the one rubbing all over _you_ , remember?"

Ash stared down at him in shock. "You don't?"

Harry snorted, "No!"

The relief Ash felt threatened to send him to his knees. It was only through stubbornness that he remained standing at all.

"Then would you like to go out with me again? To get a drink at Sanctuary?"

Harry's lips quirked into a small smile. "I think I need a drink. And to apologise to Alexion for crying all over him." He frowned as he looked down at himself. "I'm not looking too good though."

Ash frowned as well as he finally took full stock of Harry's appearance. His clothes were rumpled and smelled stale. His skin was almost grey, he had deep purple bruises under both bloodshot eyes from lack of sleep and his cheeks had white tear-tracks covering them. He was also swaying lightly in obvious exhaustion.

And yet Ash couldn't help the tender feeling curling in his chest. Didn't even want to, if he was going to be completely honest with himself.

So, to help, he pushed his power into Harry to heal him of his exhaustion and freshen him up so that he felt a little more like himself. He was completely unprepared for Harry's magic to twine with his own. He heard Harry gasp and was pretty sure he made some sort of noise as well, his eyes fluttering closed.

It seemed like hours later when he finally regained enough control over himself to pull his powers back; Harry's magic reluctantly drawing back as well.

Opening his eyes he was met with blown green staring straight back at him. He didn't know what to say or how to explain as he didn't know what had just happened either, so instead he just asked, "Ready?"

~#~

Sanctuary was quiet tonight, the atmosphere intimate rather than loud.

Harry and he were both sitting at the bar, turned towards each other on their stools, a tumbler of whiskey in front of each of them.

Harry was taking little sips, letting the alcohol warm his chest and stomach. He was at the stage where everything felt relaxed and was quite happy to stay there.

"So," he said, propping his chin in his palm, "you're saying that alcohol does absolutely _nothing_ for you?"

"Nope." Ash replied.

Harry narrowed his eyes. "So if you were to down that glass, not only would you not get drunk, but you wouldn't even feel sick?"

Ash shrugged, "I enjoy the taste, and I can feel it warm me."

"But you could drink hot chocolate for that!" Harry scoffed, "It'd be cheaper too."

Ash took another sip and smiled.

Harry glanced down at his own glass as he swirled the amber liquid around. "You know," he said eventually, "there are plenty of other _non_ -alcoholic drinks that taste nice."

"I'm sure there are." Ash agreed.

Harry shot him a look that told Ash that he knew he was being facetious. "Here, look, I'll prove it to you." He signalled for the were-bear (one of the quads) manning the bar that evening. "I'll get you my favourite drink when I was a kid."

The 'and could sneak some without my aunt noticing' went unsaid.

"What can I get you?"

Harry smiled at him. "Can I get a pint of Sprite, please?"


	15. Missing Time

There were some things Harry instinctively knew were _bad things_. Halloween, for instance. Halloween was always a _bad thing_.

There were also things that Harry had learnt were _bad things_. Alcohol was one ( _Thanks_ , Savitar) as well as, pillows that breathed. (Strangely the two seemed to be linked. One day he was going to get over the bear incident, but not today.) Which was why, after manfully resisting the urge to retch at the pain pounding in his head, he ended up flailing off the side of the bed when his very comfortable pillow breathed out.

He lay on the cold floor, half covered by the sheets he'd brought down with him, and concentrated on doing absolutely nothing. Eventually the urge to throw up his liver passed and he blinked open his eyes to stare blindly at the ceiling. There was no angry bear this time, just the awful stomach-turning knowledge that he'd once again gotten drunk and woken up on top of something living.

Guess it was time to see what the damage was.

Pushing himself up on his elbows gave him the startling realisation that he was naked under the pooling blankets. Getting to his knees revealed a rather uncommon ache in his lower back that he would _not like to think about thank you._

Peering over the top of the mattress, however, gave him an eyeful of a naked Acheron passed out for all the world to see.

The noise that came out of Harry's mouth could not be described as human. In fact, Crookshanks had once made a noise quite like it when Ron had stepped on his tail once. He regretted it almost immediately when Ash shot up, growling and crouched in an attacking position. It didn't last long as whatever Harry had been drinking to turn his night into one hungover blur of black seemed to have affected Ash too. The older man groaned, clutching at his head, and listed alarmingly to one side, catching himself at the last moment.

Harry scrambled up, only just managing to grab at the sheet to keep himself somewhat decent. Though, if he knew anything about anything – and living in a dorm of boys gave him a head start – he had the feeling that he hadn't been _at all_ decent the night before.

If only he could remember a single thing that'd happened.

He'd had very good intentions, but the sudden movement caused a spike of pain to jostle his spine and he let out a muffled groan of his own.

Ash's attention snapped to him, and Harry had front row seats to watching the man take one long look at him, pale dramatically and flash out of the room. All without saying a word.

Harry would care, but the small part of him that he could dredge up was more concerned with the way the room was spinning and tilting to one side. He only barely managed to flop face down on the bed and close his eyes.

Fuck it. He'd care in the morning.


	16. Locks

The second time Harry woke his stomach had stopped trying to crawl out through his throat. He blinked at the ceiling a few times, trying to remember what the hell had happened the night before.

The bed. Waking up naked. Ash.

Harry groaned and shoved a pillow over his face. If anyone asked his face was red from lack of oxygen and not complete mortification.

He was pretty sure he'd slept with Ash.

And a little part of him regretted not being able to remember a thing about it.

He pressed the pillow down harder. Maybe if he suffocated himself then he wouldn't have to get up and face anyone.

Ash had run. Ash had taken one look at him and ran, and if Harry knew anything it was that only people with regrets ran.

Had he taken advantage last night? He couldn't remember, but he should probably apologise anyway. He should talk to Ash about this to try and clear the air. He might not have the best track record with talking about personal things but he wasn't going to let this fester. Ash was a friend. Hopefully he'd still _want_ to be friends.

The decision didn't help calm him though. In fact his nausea came back ten-fold at the thought of all the 'what ifs'. What if Ash didn't forgive him? What if he had to leave? What if he lost his friends? Again.

The uncertainty was killing him but there wasn't much he could do about it apart from face it head on.

As soon as he'd had a shower.

~*~

The water was scalding, but it did what it was supposed to do – namely wash away his shame and whatever had dried on his stomach that he refused to look at. The heat also quickly fogged up the mirror which was a minor relief because Harry didn't particularly want to look himself in the eye right now.

He stayed under the spray for as long as he could, but when his fingers started to prune he forced himself to turn off the water before he grew gills. Things were awkward enough as it was.

Grabbing a towel he stepped out of the bathroom, scrubbing at his hair as his skin prickled in the cold air.

Okay. Plan of action. Dry self, put on clothes, find Ash and explain with a side order of begging for forgiveness if needed.

It was a good plan. Simple. But simple worked more often than not.

At least it would have worked if Ash hadn't popped into being three feet in front of him.

Harry froze; hand on head and towel half flopped in front of his face. It wasn't enough to stop him from seeing the blood drain from Ash's face at the sight of him. Again.

His stomach lurched as Ash disappeared and then reappeared three seconds later with a look of panicked horror plastered across his face.

Merlin's balls, he really _had_ screwed things up. If Ash couldn't even look at him without—

"Why are you _naked?_ "

Oh _shit_.

Harry squeaked and dropped his hands, using the towel to cover himself as best he could. "I was in the shower!"

"We're not in the bathroom," Ash's voice was getting steadily high-pitched, "why are you naked?"

"Well I wasn't expecting you to pop in here like you own the place!" Harry defended as he edged sideways, his voice tinged with hysteria. Maybe he could duck behind the bed or something.

"But I _do_ own the place!"

Harry opened his mouth to retort and then snapped it shut with a clack of teeth. Touché.

They both fell silent. Ash looked exactly how Harry felt.

 _At least we're talking_ , Harry thought. The only downside being that he refused to have this conversation with only a hand towel to cover himself with.

"Look," Harry said eventually, "I don't mean to be rude or anything but could you turn around?"

Ash's eyes widened and then he span to face the opposite wall so fast that Harry half expected to see burns on the floor. Harry waited for a beat or two before finally deeming it safe enough to drop the towel and make a grab for his clothes. It didn't stop him from sneaking a peek at the strong line of Ash's shoulders stretching out his shirt, even if he did feel guilty afterwards. Was it wrong that when he saw Ash like this he felt safe?

"You shouldn't have just barged in like that," Harry mumbled as he slipped one leg into his jeans.

"You didn't lock the door."

"You didn't _use_ the door!"

Ash spun around, looking ready to defend himself, but the retort was lost when the sudden movement caught Harry off guard. Harry yelped, his other leg caught halfway in his pants so he tumbled forwards onto the floor.

"I'm sorry." Ash's voice was pitched low but Harry could still hear the regret coating every word.

Guess he wasn't going to get much better than this. Half naked, sprawled across the floor and hidden by the bed. He let out a sigh at the familiar position and wiggled into his clothes properly.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry too." He took a deep breath and levered himself up. His courage failed him at the last moment though so Harry was left staring at the ground instead of looking Ash in the eye.

"You're sorry? For what?"

"For…" Oh gods he was going to have to say it out loud. Harry's throat closed, threatening to choke the words, "for taking advantage of you."

Ash made a noise of surprise, "But you didn't! I was the one who—"

Harry's head shot up in surprise, only to see Ash looking ill.

"I was the one who…" Ash repeated.

Harry was speechless. "Ash," he managed eventually, "you didn't take advantage of me."

Ash still looked ill. Ill and stubborn. "But I did. I'm the one who—"

"No." Harry cut that train of thought right off. "Ash, no. You didn't."

"But…"

It didn't look like Ash believed him, but Harry was absolutely certain. Before Ash could blink, Harry was around the side of the bed and standing in front of him, hands cradling Ash's face and pulling it up so that he could look the other man in the eyes.

"Ash. No."

Ash slumped, tension suddenly draining from him. He reached up and wrapped his fingers around Harry's wrists, keeping Harry's hands pressed against his skin as his eyes fluttered shut.

"If anything," Harry said, "you should blame me for—"

Ash's eyes snapped open. "Don't."

Harry faltered and then squared his shoulders. "Fine then. So if I don't blame you and you don't blame me…?" Ash shook his head. "Then…" Harry continued, "then that's it over with." Ash continued to stare. "We'll just…agree to not mention it ever again, shall we? Move on and stuff? Okay?"

Ash's fingers tightened briefly on his wrists. Not enough to hurt, but just enough to remind Harry of how close they were standing. He could feel the heat of Ash's body across the whole of his chest.

Maybe he should have put on a shirt.

"Okay."


End file.
